Ricketts Glen State Park
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| Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania, USA | |
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| IUCN Category III (Natural Monument) | |
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| Location: | Luzerne County, Sullivan County, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Nearest city: | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 13,050 acres (52.81 km²) |
| Established: | 1942 |
| Governing body: | Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |
Ricketts Glen State Park is a Pennsylvania State Park near Benton. It is a 13,050 acre (5.4 km²) park in Luzerne, Sullivan and Columbia counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. The park offers hiking, camping (one of the two camping areas is on a peninsula extending into the lake), riding (horses not provided in the park), hunting, swimming, fishing, canoeing and kayaking on 245 acre (98 ha) Lake Jean, as well as cross-country skiing and ice fishing in the Winter. The park also contains the Glens Natural Area, a National Natural Landmark; the Falls Trail passes 24 named waterfalls, the highest being 94-foot (28.6 m) Ganoga Falls.
[edit] History
Robert Bruce Ricketts was a veteran of the American Civil War. Colonel Ricketts at one time owned outright or controlled over 80,000 acres (320 km²) of land in this area. His heirs, through the Central Penn Lumber Company, sold 48,000 acres (190 km²) to the Pennsylvania Game Commission from 1920-24. This left them with over 12,000 acres (49 km²) surrounding the Ganoga Lake, Lake Jean and Glens area.
In fact, Ricketts and the other settlers living in the area weren't even aware of the glens and their many waterfalls until the 1890's! At that time, a houseguest of the Ricketts went fishing and wandered down Kitchen Creek, discovering the many waterfalls (and the reason why no fish came up the stream!).
Although the area was approved as a national park site in the 1930s, World War II brought an end to this plan for development and in 1942 the heirs sold 1,261 acres (5.1 km²), the Falls and Glens area, to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a state park. Additional purchases everntually brought the park to its present size. Recreational facilities first opened in 1944.
[edit] The Glens Natural Area
The Glens Natural Area, a registered National Natural Landmark since October 12, 1969, is the main scenic attraction in the park. Among giant pines, hemlocks, and oaks, two branches of Kitchen Creek cut through the deep gorges of Ganoga Glen and Glen Leigh and unite at "Waters Meet"; then flow through Ricketts Glen. Many of the magnificent trees in this area are over 500 years old, and ring counts on fallen trees have revealed ages as high as 900 years. Diameters of almost four feet are common, and many trees tower to 100 feet (30 m) in height. The area is the meeting ground of the southern and northern hardwood types, creating an extensive variety of trees. In 1993, the Glens Natural Area became a State Park Natural Area and will be protected and maintained in a natural state.
A series of trails, covering a total of five miles (8 km), parallels the streams as they course down the Glens. Glen Leigh features eight waterfalls. Ganoga Glen has ten named falls including 94 foot (29 m) Ganoga Fall, plus another good-sized unnamed one on a side tributary. Ricketts Glen has three waterfalls just below Waters Meet, and two more two miles (3 km) farther downstream at PA route 118. (One of these two is directly below the highway bridge, which obscures much of the view. The farthest downstream, Adams Fall, an especially pretty waterfall, is 1/10 mile (150 m) south of the highway along a short trail from the parking lot just west of Kitchen Creek.)
The Glen hikes described here also include the one-mile Highland Trail, which connects the top ends of Glens Ganoga and Leigh to form a triangle; this trail features the "Midway Crevasse," a formation of large rocks. A map is available at the park office near the lake.
Hiking the entire Glens area beginning and ending at PA 118 yields a seven-mile (10 km) hike that includes the Highland Trail.
For a shorter hike, one may park at Lake Rose, near the junction of Ganoga Glen and the Highland Trail. It is possible to see all of the waterfalls except the two near the highway by hiking around the triangular area: Highland Trail / Glen Leigh / Ganoga Glen. The distance around the triangle is three miles (5 km). An optional side trip from Waters Meet along the three falls in the top of Ricketts Glen, then back to Waters Meet, adds half a mile.
Visiting Adams Fall, 1/10 mile (150 m) south of PA 118 (next to the parking lot west of the creek, across the road from the trail through the glens) is highly recommended as it is one of the most scenic falls in the park. (Enroute to and from Adams Fall, yet another fall can be seen underneath the highway bridge.) This area is accessible via an easy stroll.
In addition to the above, for those wishing an easy walk to the largest fall, there is a longer but more gradual side trail that leads from the bridge at the top of Ganoga Glen on a winding path through the woods to a point near 94-foot Ganoga fall.
There are other hiking trails along the lake and nearby in the forest, and several more trails pass through more isolated areas of the park.
Like all Pennsylvania state parks, Ricketts Glen charges no admission fee.
